


to kill a god

by Ipcearn (Milea)



Series: shadow's heart and stag's crown [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: F/M, basically an AU of the campaign I'm a part of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-02-04 16:27:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12774906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milea/pseuds/Ipcearn
Summary: “What’s your quest?” He asked anyway, already knowing the answer.“To kill a god,” they responded, bright eyed, bold and this side of too arrogant.





	to kill a god

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably one of the most self-indulgend things I have ever written  
> Basis is the homebrew campaign where I play a tiefling rogue dedicated to an Outsider (Dishonored) inspired god who picks his chosen based on their angst-levels or something  
> My immediate response to talking over possible deaths of her with my awesome DM was to imagine what said god would do if she died and I had control over the campaign  
> Kaleel, the poor half-elven wizard, possessed by the very done drama-devil Castor, is my back up character  
>  ~~... Castor isn't actually related to Niruin in the campaign, but it fit together so nicely for the AU that I couldn't resist~~ apparently they are now related

They were a bunch of snot-nosed kids, even if the dwarf was older than all the others combined. Castor pitied them; they didn’t know anything, thrown to the wolves just for the entertainment of _those two_. 

“What’s your quest?” He asked anyway, already knowing the answer.

“To kill a god,” they responded, bright eyed, bold and this side of too arrogant. Castor shook his head at them, while Kali’s frown deepened next to him. “She said you would know how.”

“The woman who told us to do it,” they explained, thrumming with barely contained energy, “tall, pale and beautiful, an amethyst at her throat and with lilac eyes.”

Castor swallowed down his laughter at them. Fooled so easily, and they wanted to kill a _god_?

“What makes you think you can do it, when you do not know anything of substance yet?” He asked them, seeing the protests form on their lips. “Prove to me that you are worthy, and I’ll tell you how you can slay the Trickster.”

The dragonborn in their party tensed and wasn’t that interesting? Castor could feel the pendant in the boys pocket thrum with arcane power. Sabeth’s magic always had an unmistakable touch of chaos to it, he thought, humorlessly.

He wondered if he should warn them now or later, but thought, _let them figure out things for themselves first, they’ll be back soon enough_.

Kali made a disgruntled noise when he dissolved, leaving her to deal with the party’s questions, but he needed some time to think and he could always apologize later.

* * *

  
When they came back, their party had extended by one. A dragonborn warlock who made Kali weary and tense. _Smart girl_ , Castor thought fondly.

Undoubtedly, they had been changed by their travels, eyes hooded and drawn, bruises smudged on their skin or hidden by their garbs.

It was a good look for them, he decided, their arrogance whittled away by their experience.

“Tell me what you’ve learned.” Castor said and they did.

They spoke of what they had found in the world, of the small, abandoned shrines and ancient scrolls. The dragonborn with the pendant in his pocket stepped hesitantly forward and related his encounters with a man dressed in blacks and greens. Then they talked about what little they found on the monster following the Trickster’s every footstep, a shadowed beast chasing him and being chased in turn.

Castor nodded when they finished, satisfied. “Do you still want to kill a god?” He asked them.

“We’ve come this far.” They answered.

He smiled sadly, already sure of their fate. “Then let me tell you a story in return.”

And so he told them about a young tiefling child who stumbled upon a shrine and a god, who became the trickster’s chosen, just like the dragonborn boy, and who held his interest longer than anyone else before. He told them about how she perished.

“But when she died,” Castor said, “he didn’t accept it, defied death herself for that one chosen and did to her what had been done to him millennia ago.” They were all enraptured by his words, sitting around the fire with wide eyes. “To create a god, untouched by mortality. Like him.” Castor didn’t mention the price that had to be paid for such a thing, how much blood had been spilled for one single mortal. It wasn’t important to the story, not tonight. “Now, they fight and fuck and dance around each other; and you were all dragged into it.”

He hoped they could follow where he tried to lead them, hoped that they understood why he’d tell them about her.

He shouldn’t have worried.

“She’s the one who sent us on this quest, isn’t she?” It was the paladin talking, her eyes so full of compassion and the pain of others. He wondered if her party members realized that she wasn’t human.

Castor smiled, broad, showing all his sharp teeth.

“Smart little mortals.” They looked disgruntled at his belittlement, but didn’t try to interrupt him. “You are her challenge to him, nothing more than chess pieces in a game you didn’t agree to. And you,” he pointed at the dragonborn with the pendant, “are his answer to her.”

He let that sink in, watched them squabble for a while. When he cleared his throat, they fell silent again.

“I’ll ask again: do you still want to kill a god?”

* * *

 

“Hello, father.” Niruin said, appearing out of the shadows and Kaleel let out a high pitched little yelp. The title fell from her lips like a cruel mockery and Castor couldn’t help but think how much immortality suited her. The amethyst sat prominently at her throat, glamour deactivated, while Sabeth’s pendant disappeared beneath the simple black linen shirt she was wearing.

The shadows clung to her like wisps and he could hear them chanting her name, a declaration of loyalty to their new queen. _No one could deny our relation now_ , Castor thought, almost bitterly.

“Niruin,” he said non-committal. “What do you want?”

He didn’t have to delude himself, Nruin didn’t care much for him and when it came down to it, he could understand why. He never gave her a reason to like him.

“What, I can’t simply visit daddy dearest?” The lazy smirk was all Sabeth, but she sobered quickly. “I meant to thank you for riling up that group of mortals even more.” Her lips quirked up in amusement. “They’re oh so angry at me for playing them.” And almost like an afterthought she added: “I guess I can finally understand why Sabeth finds his entertainment in watching them.”

“You’re using them, I believe their anger is quite warranted.” Castor answered. “They face the very real possibility of dying.”

Niruin gestured dismissively. “They’ll die at some point anyway.”

Shaking his head at her, Castor couldn’t help but ask: “Why did you sent them to me, anyway? You had to know I wouldn’t let them run blindly into your and Sabeth’s games.”

“I knew you’d warn them,” she drawled, “but I couldn’t be sure of how much you’d tell them and what exactly would happened because of it. But I’m very happy with this outcome.”

The shadows reached for her with grasping fingers and Castor watched the sharp grin form on her lips. “Now the fun can begin.”

She was gone the next moment and Kali cursed quietly next to him.

* * *

  
Kaleel wanted to help them in their battle – the group of brats – and Castor couldn’t really think of a reason why they shouldn’t.

He braided her hair into an intricate knot to keep it out of her face, just like Tahall had begrudgingly shown him all that time ago, while Kali stared pensively into the distance. The party was spread around them, doing their last preparations for a fight they couldn’t win.

Castor had been forced to admit that he didn’t actually know a way to kill the Trickster _permanently_ , though he was sure it existed. As a forest deity, Sabeth was intrinsically linked to nature and like a tree he had to have his roots to draw strength from somewhere.

Niruin as well would have something containing her essence. And whatever Sabeth had used had responded fiercely to Castor’s shadow-wreathed blood in her veins, he thinks darkly.

“Penny for your thoughts?”, Kaleel asked quietly. Of course, she picked up on his souring mood. Four years might be but a blink for an immortal such as himself, but it was more than enough time for a keen half-elf to learn his tells.

He was filled with a sudden surge of fondness for this remarkable mortal he had found himself bound to.

“The wild king and his shadow queen.” He rumbled and Kali threw him a half amused glance over her shoulder for his theatrics. “They were already so entangled before Niruin became immortal, but now… I’m not sure Sabeth was aware of all the consequences it would entail.”

Kali hummed thoughtfully, twirling a dagger in between her fingers.

“She’s unstable,” Castor said, “ten years might seem long for you, but for an immortal it is but a moment and she is still getting used to all that power at her disposal. And it couldn’t have been easy to return to life like that.”

This time it was an inquisitive noise coming from Kali. She knew enough about the situation overall, of Sabeth and Nir, but Castor had never told her what exactly had happened after Niruin’s death.

“She was dead for a few months before Sabeth dragged her soul back to its body.”

“Months?” Kaleel asked. “Shouldn’t that be simple enough to fix for someone like the Trickster? There have been tales of people being revived after years of being dead.” She trailed off, curiously.

“Yes,” Castor said, “but those only worked when the soul was willing. Sabeth dragged her back to the living without her agreement.”

“So she’s fucked up beyond reason”, a voice to the left said and both Castor and Kali turned their heads, “doesn’t excuse her actions.”

The party around them had slowly congregated to them and had listened intently to their quiet conversation.

Castor hummed thoughtfully, at once unwilling to condemn Niruin that easily, but seeing the point of their anger as well. After the first time Kaleel and him had met her, Kali had asked him if he cared for her, this woman who was his daughter. At the time, Castor had been sure that he didn’t.

Niruin had been born of an unwilling union on both sides. Castor summoned, bound by sigils, weakened, and her mother, a young, timid thing; both forced into a ritual they did not want to participate in. But human greed for power was limitless. Castor didn’t know what they had planned to do with the child of an archdevil, but the moment he’d been free of the shackles, he had returned to tear them apart. Niruin’s mother hadn’t wanted her, afraid and disgusted with what had grown in her womb, but also not having the heart to kill an innocent child.

She had left her in an orphanage that Niruin had soon tired off, or rather the mistrusting eyes that followed the tiefling child everywhere. She fled, a shadow leaving in the middle of the night and never looked back.

But now, Castor thought, but now Niruin was immortal and there would be no ignoring her.

“Why would he do that?” Kali asked, turning to him, “the Trickster, why would he do that? He had to know the damage he’d cause. At least an inkling of it…”

Castor started rebraiding a part of her hair, just to keep his fingers occupied. “He found his match, someone who refused to be intimidated by him, someone who challenged him. They’re an unstoppable force and an unmoving object colliding, and he couldn’t give that up.” He paused for a moment, staring intently at the white locks in his grasp. “Immortality is both a blessing and a curse. Those who are born with it are used to everyone else slowly dying around them, but Sabeth… Sabeth had been human once. He grew up mortal; he loves fiercely and intensely, like humans do. He might have gotten used to immortality over the millennia, but at his core he will always remember.”

“Immortality sounds very lonely”, Kali said in the resulting silence.

Castor squeezed her shoulder lightly. “It is.”

* * *

Sabeth waited for them on the edges where the Feywild bleed into the Material Plane. It was a smart move on his part.

Sabeth’s magic had always been chaotic in nature, wild and unpredictable, much like the man himself. Much like _the fey_ themselves.

And fey or not, right here it would be but child’s play to draw from the wild powers all around them.

There was a smirk playing on his lips and the shadows darkened angrily around Kali. It was Kaleel’s fury bleeding into Castor’s own and he relished in the oh so human response, let it fuel their power.

Kali might never tap into the full potential of his might, but the longer they shared a body, the easier it got for her.

The party left them a wide berth, wary and unused to Kali’s presence and fiercely glowing amber eyes – _Castor’s eyes_. Some of them took note of the changed color, the honeyed brown replaced by brimstone, some of them didn’t; it was all the same to Castor.

He relaxed into the space they shared and offered her all he could give her, felt the warmth of her thanks reverberate through him.

_Let the battle begin_ , he thought grimly.

* * *

  
When Sabeth went down, he went down hard. They were all battered and bruised at this point, blood caked and dirty. Castor called their party a challenge on Niruin’s part, but Sabeth’s indulgence was as much a declaration of twisted love as her own actions were.

There was a pulse of dark satisfaction that was as much Kali’s as it was Castor’s. It was always that much harder to differentiate between their feelings when she accessed his power this way, everything that much more intense because of it.

Castor knew Niruin was watching the fight, hidden by shadows but in no way interfering.

It was only after Sabeth’s body hit the ground with a painful sounding smack and they got a moment to catch their breath, did Niruin grow out of the floor next to the Trickster, slowly clapping.

“Impressive.”

“You,” the human in their party hissed.

Niruin’s responding smile was humorless and showed off all her sharp, sharp teeth. “Me.”

He looked ready to attack her and Castor sincerely hoped he wouldn’t be stupid enough to do it. Niruin did not yet share Sabeth’s appreciation of mortal life, if she ever would, and wouldn’t hesitate to kill if provoked.

“Hate me all you want,” Niruin drawled, “but I did promise you a reward at the end, did I not?”

Her open hands revealed several numbers of gems that she let fade back into shadow only to have the ground spit them back out in front of the human.

“Cheer up, little mortals, you made it, you ‘killed’ a god and all of you are still alive, even.” She spread her arms wide in a grand gesture before turning to the body next to her. “And you,” her foot nudged Sabeth’s ribs, “do get up, your theatrics have gone on long enough.”

One eye lazily opened, a grin spreading on his lips. “You love my theatrics.”

Niruin snorted. “In which reality?”

She stretched out a hand towards him and Sabeth grabbed it to pull himself up. He didn’t bother moving out of Niruin’s space. The party around them looked startled and wary; Castor did warn them that there was no way to kill him permanently and all he felt coming from Kali was a sense of tired resignation.

The pair was near impossible to look away from even though they seemingly had forgotten about everyone else but each other.

Sabeth’s fingers confidently interlinked behind Niruin’s back, their foreheads leaning against each other.

“In the one where you are surrounded by a dozen grandchildren, _obviously_.” He pressed a sloppy kiss against Niruin’s nose and her following grimace could either be allotted to the words or the kiss.

Her hands settled on his face for a moment, smudging some of the dirt stuck there before she turned back to the party, still in his embrace.

“Your quest is fulfilled, little mortals, you are free to go.” She made a gesture as if she was swatting away some flies. “Shoo.”

This time, Castor really couldn’t fault the human for his impulsive behavior. With an angry cry he darted forward, swinging his two swords.

But by the time he reached them, they were both already gone, only leaving Sabeth’s laughter echoing in the air.

**Author's Note:**

> If you actually took the time to read this, thank you so much  
> I actually have a bunch more of this self-indulgent mess that I need to clean up before posting
> 
> [Nir's 10-song-character-playlist for the AU](https://open.spotify.com/user/b7tubu2ls3lix58yrwggxhw78/playlist/7z0U5GOc4osL0R4baHyvdh)  
> -> [the complete playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/b7tubu2ls3lix58yrwggxhw78/playlist/1bWNFp5IZbm3jILROHVCgG)  
> [Sabeth's 10-song-character-playlist for the AU](https://open.spotify.com/user/b7tubu2ls3lix58yrwggxhw78/playlist/2DRvXpJBXIypwll8ulJRpI)  
> -> [the complete playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/b7tubu2ls3lix58yrwggxhw78/playlist/5906T226ooVf57cJ4P5vVE)  
> [Sabeth/Nir's 10-song-relationship-playlist for the AU](https://open.spotify.com/user/b7tubu2ls3lix58yrwggxhw78/playlist/1D8bFzPlYAbOXUP3esyRnh)  
> -> [the complete playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/b7tubu2ls3lix58yrwggxhw78/playlist/1QdJsKMAGaCctvxSzM4Qlp)  
> 


End file.
